Video Game / Savant: Ascent

Savant: Ascent is a shooter created by Dubstep creator Savant, much in the same vein that Zun created Touhou Project. Taking control of a man simply dubbed "The Alchemist", you must scale your tower after a mysterious orb has blasted you from your home. That's about as much plot as the game will tell you. Savant Ascent is a sort of twin stick shooter. You aim and shoot with the mouse button and move with the wasd keys, but there is a catch. The player doesn't have free control of the Alchemist's movement; rather, they simply control which platform he is on and how he gets to the other one if he needs to move. Another important part of the game is collecting CDs. No literally, you collect CDs of Savant's songs to gain new powers. And you are gonna need them.

As of October 22, 2014, the game was given the Void Update, adding two new levels and a new CD. A temporary update also gave access to Christmas mode which ended on January 1, 2015.

An extended remake called Savant - Ascent REMIX was released on 29.09.2023, featuring new levels and bosses as well as remixed music.

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Savant Ascent contains examples of:

• All There in the Manual: The plot is really only covered in the game's store page. In-game you just get a short video of the Alchemist getting blasted out of his tower.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: According to the store page, the Alchemist is a mechanical being. Because he is a mechanical being he manages to survive the depths of space itself.
• Earn Your Bad Ending: The new ending introduced in the void update has the Samurai slam the Alchemist back into his tower, all the way from space, presumably killing him.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Overdrive. It's only obtained once you get six CDs and then grab the Philosopher's Stone at the top of the tower. You're gonna need it if you want to beat the Void levels.
• Everything Trying to Kill You: If the intro is correct, your most common enemies are animated teapots and irons.
• Gainax Ending: The Vario ending is... Odd. It only fits given that he seems to be glitching out all the time.
• Guide Dang It!: At no point ever does the game even hint that using your chain to grab the orb (the Philosopher's Stone) will do something good. At least until the void update where the 7th CD says it requires the orb. But good luck getting it without Overdrive.
• Mask of Power: Donning the mask of Vario after his defeat allows you to shoot holographic projections/bullets in the shape of said character and teleport. Presumably, the Alchemist's original mask is magic as well.
• Ninja Pirate Robot Zombie:
  • The Samurai is a Space Robot Samurai.
  • The Alchemist is a Mechanical Pirate Alchemist.
• Ominous Visual Glitch: For no reason at all, both Vario and the orb he came out of glitch. After you defeat Vario while using his mask, the sky turns into static and two suns appear with Vario's face on one of them.
• Previous Cover Art Character Cameo: The game's original Final Boss is Vario, a character made for one of Savant's album covers.
• Secret Character: Defeating Vario allows you to use his mask and changes the game significantly.
• True Final Boss: The Samurai. While you don't HAVE to do anything to get to him other than beat the previous level, it might as well be required that you gain access to Overdrive just to fight, let alone beat him.
• Villain Teleportation: Vario has the ability to poof out of nowhere and stomp you down with his shoes.

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